In a pep talk to party workers and MPs on Tuesday, Mr. Layton said Liberal voters should consider switching their allegiance to the NDP.

A pep talk, or an attempt to plug a hole in a leak that looks to have sprung in the good ship Layton, and some bluster to divert attention from his own troubles? Because his behaviour lately is all the more interesting when you consider this recent news:

MEDIA RELEASE

New Brunswick Federal Liberal Caucus Welcomes Fredericton Federal NDP Candidate Kelly Comer to the Liberal Party; Second New Brunswick NDP Candidate to Join the Liberal Party This Year

For Immediate ReleaseOctober 23, 2007

OTTAWA, O.N. – Saint John Member of Parliament Paul Zed on behalf of the New Brunswick Federal Liberal Caucus welcomes Fredericton NDP candidate Kelly Comer to the Liberal Party.

“We are delighted to welcome Ms. Comer to the Liberal Party,” said Mr. Zed. “The Liberal Party is a diverse, open party, and we are pleased that Ms. Comer has chosen to join us and our Leader Stéphane Dion as we work to build a better New Brunswick and a better Canada.”

Mr. Zed notes that Ms. Comer is the second federal NDP candidate to leave the party to join the Liberal Party. Terry Albright, the former President of the New Brunswick NDP and federal NDP candidate in Saint John in 2004 and 2006 left the party to join the Liberal Party in 2006.

“Clearly, people are very disillusioned with the NDP under Jack Layton’s leadership,” said Mr. Zed. “It was Mr. Layton’s opportunistic posturing that forced the election in 2006 that effectively killed the Early Learning and Child Care Agreements and the historic Kelowna Accord which sought to close the gap between Aboriginal peoples and other Canadians in education, health, housing and economic opportunities. We welcome the addition of Kelly Comer to the Liberal Party and look forward to working with her to create a fairer, richer, and greener Canada.”-30-

If his own past candidates are tiring of the Jack Layton show, I wonder what the reviews are going to be from Canadians? Those 'lent votes' are coming due...

UPDATE: Doesn't the arrogance in this picture just say it all? It's from the throne speech vote last night. Does this look like a man with the gravitas and maturity to be a future Prime Minister? (H/T Impolitical)

24 comments:

Thanks for this post Jeff. I'm a former lifelong-New Democrat who just couldn't stand Jack's hypocrisy any more. Once Dion won the Liberal leadership there was no question where my new political home was.

Layton's trashing of the Dion-May agreement showed quite clearly what a hypocrite Jack is on the environment, as if it wasn't already obvious.

Liberals attacking dippers on amendments? Dippers attacking Liberals on throne speech? Somewhere Tom Flanagan has a Dick Cheney like smirk overlooking a wall full of game theory charts as the tories get a bit of a free ride.

Did you ever stop to think that the Liberals were masters of their own defeat in 2006? If Paul Martin was unable to make his minority government work it wasn't simply because of the NDP and their 19 seats. I don't know why Liberals expect the NDP to bend over backwards for them all the time, just because they don't stick to their principles doesn't me other parties should follow suit.

People switch parties all the time, you can't expect to keep everyone happy all the time. Maybe these two candidates fled to greener pastures as the last time I checked the NDP wasn't polling to well in those cities. I guess if they didn't have the determination to work for their votes.

Your false outrage with Layton is pretty weak, but I guess when your own party is taking a nose-dive its good policy to try and drag others down with you. No wonder why I moved from the Liberals to the NDP....

Fine. NdPers may have thought Paul Martin had ran out of gas, or didn't like the cut of his gibb, but wouldn't the items up for legislation -- the Kelowna Accord, early learning child care program, pushing on the Kyoto Accord -- have presented the object to get NdP-like things through and to the Canadian public? How was supporting Stephen Harper, who showed no interest in any of those items and remains backpedalling on progressive legislation at a fever pitch, going to help Canadians? Enabling someone so in tune with George Bush would seem to be what most most NdP voters wanted? If you couldn't hold your nose for a few months and be able to claim victory in the above legislation, I don't think you want parliament to work.Oh right, whhat's good for Jack is good for Canadians, that's the ticket...Real life, where compromises and meeting people halfway has no place in NdP strategy meetings.

Hey Ti-Guy - there is no need to insult me. The first indication that I am not a Conserva-troll (and no longer a Lib-witch either) is because I have a sense of humour. There is nothing wrong with poking fun at the self-righteousness of Liberals.Also, I agree with Mike and Sean S. - get over the NDP-did-not-want-to-play-by-my-rules schtick. It is older than "Canada's New Government".

I'll make a more intellectually honest attempt. Jack Layton has been chippy and yippy, and he has been goading the Liberals. His hope is to suck leftist fringe support from the Liberals who are shamed by the inaction of the Grits, into following in the steps of the Dippers. Of course as I already stated earlier today, Layton has little to lose being in solid third place.

At the same time, to be honest, Layton is actually standing behind his words, even if it does mean something a little hollow. The Liberals know they can't afford a frontal war with the conservatives, and so have to be relegated to measures like abstaining and murmuring. I don't blame them for wanting to avoid a confrontation with the conservatives, but then they can't have it both ways. They can't be the opposition while not opposing the cons.

So instead of dividing the soft Liberal support to the NDP and vice versa, the left should be more concerned with unity in the face of what looks to be a unified right ready to enter into a majority governance. What I'm saying is that the Liberals and NDP fighting only really serves our own benefit.

But hey, it doesn't matter to me any. It just makes me curious, from a purely political pundit's point of view. Feel free to rip apart my opinion now, but without cooperation among the opposition parties, the conservatives don't really have a minority government any more. Do they?